• Tark Kim.
• Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital, Bucheon, Korea.
• Infect Chemother. 2020 Jun 1; 52 (2): 133-141.

AbstractClusters of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) have been widely reported in Korea and around the world. COVID-19 has a high mortality rate, and older patients and those with underlying diseases are at particularly high risk of being infected. Outbreaks in LTCFs, where many high-risk patients reside, result in the occupation of beds meant for severely ill patients and even death in many patients. Long-term care hospitals (LTCH) are major LTCFs in Korea. Therefore, it is very important to protect patients in LTCHs from COVID-19. The reality is that preparedness for COVID-19 in LTCHs is inadequate, and there are barriers to improvements in preparedness. Through institutional improvement and policy support, the government should help healthcare personnel and LTCHs improve installation and raise the level of knowledge of infection prevention and control. With these improvement, prevention, surveillance, and screening for COVID-19 should be done and a response system to the COVID-19 outbreak should be established. There are many challenges that must be overcome to meet the goals proposed in this article. This may be possible only with a spirit of solidarity and cooperation of government, public and private healthcare facilities.Copyright © 2020 by The Korean Society of Infectious Diseases, Korean Society for Antimicrobial Therapy, and The Korean Society for AIDS.

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